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Plans up to 5,000 homes as part of the Culm Valley Garden Village have taken a “significant step”.

Part of the garden village is proposed to be allocated for development under the Mid Devon Local Plan Review (1,750 houses to 2033). However, the wider ambition is to create a new community of up to 5,000, with the remainder of the land allocated in future plans.

The Government gave the proposal garden village status in January 2017.

Councillor Richard Chesterton (Conservative, Lower Culm), Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration, said that since then a significant amount of work had been done to progress the project and many key milestones had been reached.

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He said: “The project team believes they have established a solid management, technical and governance footing for continued progress.

“Community and stakeholder engagement has been extensive supporting a genuinely locally led project. The master planning work has been progressing and is about to enter a significant phase of work which will be the key focus for the project over the next six to 12 months alongside continued extensive engagement and intensifying work relating to the delivery of infrastructure.”

Map showing the garden village proposals

Cllr Chesterton outlined the governance arrangements in place which included the delivery board and its decision-making powers, the community/stakeholder forum, the landowner/developer forum and the project team. The delivery board now included representation from Highways England and Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish.

“Master planning for the Garden Village is progressing, and the project is about to enter into a significant phase of work to produce a framework master plan for long-term growth and a supplementary planning document for the Mid Devon local plan review allocation area,” he added.

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“High levels of placemaking and design quality have been key drivers and the ambition of the work at Cullompton Garden Village from its inception. A key factor in creating political and local support for the garden village has been expectations for the delivery of high-quality design and placemaking.

“The master planning process will also be producing design guidance for the garden village to sit alongside the master plan work to support delivery of design quality. It will also look to establish a design review process to challenge, test and ensure high-quality design and placemaking it sustained as the project moves through master planning to application stage.”

Modern houses in a garden village plan

Cllr Chesterton added that there would be a high level of community engagement over the scheme.

“The master planning process and ongoing delivery of the garden village will need to be supported by a strong communications and engagement strategy which is currently in production.

“We are looking to create a bespoke website linked to social media, and this is being developed to inform and engage with the local community. It is intended that the website will be delivered in advance of the first public consultation which is likely to be later this autumn.

“Longer term plans will also include the development of an interactive consultation module to better connect with residents and stakeholders.”

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Cllr Chesterton also linked the plans to the current relief road proposal, saying that the road would enable up to 500 homes to be built at the garden village site and that he aimed for a planning application to be submitted before the end of 2019. Improvements to Junction 28 would also be investigated.

Councillor Terry Snow Cullompton South, Independent) called for an integrated transport system throughout Cullompton.

He said: “As you know I'm into transport and we have an ideal opportunity here to have an integrated transport system. Luckily we managed to get Cullompton station put back on the plans after it had been deleted at one time by Devon County Council. We have established now that we can do it, but that's only part of the story.

“We've established that national buses will stop in Cullompton. We've now got the Falcon which heads from Plymouth to Bristol, and that is exceedingly well used now. You've also got the national bus service which stops in Cullompton as well.

“We would need to establish an integrated transport system. We must look at establishing a bus station in conjunction with a railway station so that we can integrate the transport and it will be something we need for the future.”

Cllr Chesterton agreed saying there is a need to look sensibly at it. He added that part of the garden village bid included a station, but that the two would have to be looked at separately.

Councillor Ray Stanley (Clare & Shuttern, Conservative) questioned if infrastructure would be built before housing.

Paul Brockway, the Council’s project leader for the Culm Garden Village, said that was intended to be the case.

“A lot of work is being done through the master planning process to seek to achieve that,” he said.

“We're looking at providing a primary school and potentially secondary if we're talking about the wider garden village. We're looking at providing medical and health facilities, and a lot of work has been done with the stakeholder forum and the local community groups. We have particularly worked with the sports clubs and Cullompton teams, looking at what opportunities that might be at the garden village for a continuation of that very strong positive element of the community in terms of the sports facilities.”

Mr Brockway added that the scheme could last up to 30 years and that a lot was set to be done over the next year to begin that process.